Toyota Corolla prices – South Africa vs United States

The Toyota Corolla is arguably one of the most famous cars that has ever existed, currently holding the title as the best-selling vehicle of all time thanks to over 50 million buyers taking one home since the first model saw the light of day in 1966.

The Corolla family is highly diverse and can be had in hatchback, sedan, crossover, and since May, high-performance GR guises, with hybrid and turbocharged powertrains to choose from.

The famous nameplate has steadily gotten pricier over time which led to the introduction of a more affordable Quest variant in South Africa, but in other countries such as the United States (US), it is still considered relatively budget-friendly.

Despite both nations being in love with high-riding bakkies and sizeable SUVs, the Corolla managed to rank as the twelfth best-selling car in the US in 2022 while it didn’t crack the top 20 in the local standings.

Imported vs Locally made

To see what could’ve potentially been behind this divergence in sales, we compared the Toyota between the two regions.

The pricing and model range for the South African and US Corollas are as follows:

The discrepancies in pricing are likely due to where the cars are produced, as well as market-specific equipment, taxes, and profit margins.

The US models are built in the country at Toyota’s Mississippi factory leading to far lower shipping costs to get the built-up cars into national dealerships.

The South African models, on the other hand, were produced at the automaker’s Durban plant until as recently as 2018.

However, following the launch of the 12th-generation Corolla, these cars are now sourced from one of the more than 10 other factories that build them.

The large variations in pricing between the Corolla locally and abroad have resulted in a few notable differences in their standard spec sheets.

Across the pond, the base version is the sedan body style powered by a 2.0-litre, petrol engine, whereas domestically, the most affordable variant is a hatchback with a 1.8-litre, hybrid foundation.

Regardless of powertrain and body style, the Corolla is well equipped in each market offering fittings including automatic LED lights, automatic climate control, a multifunction steering wheel, an 8-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, keyless entry and start, hill-assist control, and lane-trace assist.

Even with the higher starting price, the South African models offer fewer additional nice-to-haves than their US counterparts, such as blind-spot monitoring, standard cruise control, seven airbags, and 16-inch alloy wheels.

The entry-level US Corolla may roll around on 16-inch steel wheels, but it further brings a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, proactive driving assist, road-sign assist, dynamic radar cruise control, and 10 airbags.

Corolla prices and the average income

Taking a more holistic view, if we compare the average income in South Africa and the US to the price of the Corolla in the respective markets, the disparity in affordability becomes even clearer.

As of 2023, the average local salary stands at R312,384 per year, according to Stats SA. In the States, the annual salary is $53,490 (R1,036,000), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This means after income taxes are subtracted, South Africans must fork over 23 months’ worth of full paychecks to buy even the most affordable Corolla.

In comparison, American citizens in New York, which has one of the highest income tax requirements of all US states, will only have to part ways with seven stipends to buy the cheapest Corolla in their showrooms.

The low starting price relative to the median salary in the US, coupled with the more complete equipment list, may therefore be the answer as to why the Corolla is still flying off the shelves as quickly as always over there but experienced a slowdown in demand over here.